“Happy New Year!”

Dear Friends in Christ:
No, I did not make a mistake. The Season of Advent marks the beginning of “a new year” on the Christian Church-Year Calendar.

We will be celebrating this Advent Season during our Sunday Worship Services using the overall theme of “PREPARE”! The color for these four Sundays of Advent is blue, symbolizing “HOPE”. I hope that you will use this time to prepare your hearts and homes for a meaningful celebration of our Savior’s Birthday!

As you enter our Worship Center each Sunday, you will see something new to help you focus on this “Season of Preparation”. Each week as we light the 4 candles of our Advent Wreath, you will be asked to:

Week 1—”Prepare for the PROMISE!”

• Bible Reading: “...stay awake! For you do not know which day your Lord will come.” (Matthew 24:42)
• Prayer: Come, Lord, into the Advent of our lives. Come,
  open our eyes to see your hand in all things.
  Come, illuminate the paths we walk as we
  journey to your promised dwelling place. Amen

Week 2—”Prepare for the PEACE!”

• Bible Reading: “In those days John the Baptist appeared
  in the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, ‘Repent,
  for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This
  is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke of
  when he said, ‘The voice of one crying out in the
  wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make
  his paths straight.’” (Matthew 3:1-3)
• Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus, restore our land and re-create
  our hearts. May we speak your word to those
  whose hearts have been hardened by despair
  and disappointment; may we create for you a
  highway of peace and reconciliation that passes
  through every heart and home. Amen.

Week 3—”Prepare for the PURPOSE!”

• Bible Reading: “Go and tell John what you hear and see:
  the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers
  are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
  and the poor have the good news proclaimed to
  them.” (Matthew 11:4-5)
• Prayer: O God, Giver of all good things, give us the
  purpose to be grace-filled givers this Christmas.
  Open our hearts to give to others the compassion
  and peace of Christ that transforms emptiness to
  wholeness, sadness to joy, death to life. Amen.

Week 4—”Prepare for the PRESENCE!”

• Bible Reading: “The angel of the Lord appeared to him in
  a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not
  be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
  For this is through the Holy Spirit that this child
  has been conceived in her.’” (Matthew 1:20)
• Prayer: Come, Emmanuel, and make your dwelling place
  among us. May we welcome you into our midst
  even when your presence is most demanding,
  inconvenient, and threatening. May we give birth
  to you despite our doubts and fears, our timidity
  and weakness. Amen

Please, save these meditations and use them in your home each week. Give thanks for God’s PROMISE, PEACE, PURPOSE, and PRESENCE in your life as you PREPARE!

— Pastor David Fetter †

Family Relationships

Dear Friends in Christ:
This past weekend, Mary and I spent some quality time with our family celebrating the second birthday of our granddaughter, Katherine Rose Leoni. It was a blessed experience!

I am now reflecting on the importance of our family relationships. Some of my thoughts are not all positive. Don’t we all have some “family sins” to confess? For example ——

♦ Methodist minister Rev. Grace Imathiu writes: “There is an African proverb that says when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. I often think of this proverb when parents fight because often it is the kids that get caught in the middle”!
♦ Judith Martin, better known as “Miss Manners”, noted that contemporary houses contain a room with a large table that is usually set with a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle or is used as a desk. The space, which once was called the family dining room, is now often used for other purposes. This suggests that modern society has deemphasized
the importance of the traditional practice of the family meal. Many would acknowledge that the family meal has been helpful in keeping households together. It is a time when relationships are built, especially as news of each member’s day is exchanged, manners are taught, and social skills are developed. Miss Manners
laments that family members often eat by themselves, and then they wonder why they feel alone.
♦ The late Dr. Robert McCracken said in a sermon titled “The Church in the Home once said: “Parenthood is a ministry to which men and women are called by God.” Being away on Sunday, I also reflected on the blessing of the church as “a FAMILY”. I have been reading in The Clergy Journal, a publication I subscribe to. Dan Glover and Claudia Lay travel the United States helping churches develop more effective discipleship. In an article titled “Deepening Your Effectiveness, Restructuring the Church for Life Transformation”, they write:

Four Components of an Effective Church:
1. A common vision of God’s plan for your church, and a commitment to fulfill that vision—When the entire congregation has a clear understanding of the vision and mission drawn from the heart of and articulated by the pastors, they move together as a unified force to accomplish the mission.
2. Effective organizational, ministry, and administrative structures—Organizational and ministry structures, as well as administrative processes and procedures, will either help or hinder effective ministry and the ability of leaders to effectively lead.
3. Emotional health—Lack of emotional health will prevent even the best-organized churches from moving forward in the accomplishment of its mission. Micromanagement, gossip, and lack of personal boundaries are all warning signs that the church needs to take intentional steps to create a more emotionally healthy environment.
4. An effective discipleship pathway—Put in place a carefully developed intentional plan of action to progressively
guide people toward spiritual maturity.

—Pastor David Fetter
† † †